Month: September 2017

Title: The Planet Factory Shared by: Amanda Alvarez for GotScience.org, a Science Connected publication Author: Elizabeth Tasker Publisher: Bloomsbury Sigma On sale: Sept. 7, 2017 in UK; Nov. 7, 2017 in USA Best for: Enthusiastic 17-plus-year-olds, readers interested in popular science and space URL: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/the-planet-factory-9781472917720/ Exo is the new black The Planet Factory is a guide to real-life Tatooines, planets made of diamonds, and possible Earth twins. Since the 1995 discovery of the first planet outside the solar system, exoplanetology has become one of the most in-vogue scientific fields, and…

By Kate Stone @GotScienceOrg Pl@ntNet is a citizen science project and an app that helps you identify plants, thanks to the camera of your smartphone. The app recognizes more than 13,000 species around the world. We recently spoke with Rémi Knaff, community manager for the project, about plant identification and citizen science. GotScience: Who can use this plant identification tool? Knaff: The app can be used by anyone who is interested in plants or wants to be part of a citizen science project. The app uses crowdsourced data to give…

By Kate Stone @GotScienceOrg When I was about nine years old, a young schoolmate demanded to know, “If evolution is real, then why isn’t it happening now?” Being nine and not a biologist, I wasn’t prepared to answer this question. And yet, it was a question that I’ve heard echoes of in the years to follow. Now, a research team at Columbia University has conducted a large-scale study of genetic data and revealed how humans are evolving. In a study analyzing the genomes of 210,000 people in the United States…

What happens inside a Salamander egg? How does the embryo interact with its environment? Find out in this video, which is another in the Shelf Life series from the American Museum of Natural History. Scientists collect Salamander egg masses to investigate the symbiotic relationship between embryos and algae. The two organisms exchange substances that help each other to thrive in their environment. Researchers are increasingly interested in how the microorganisms that are inside and on our bodies interact with us throughout the course of our lives and affect our physiology. GotScience…

By Kristine Romich, Aurorasaurus intern A common misconception about the aurora is that it’s formed by particles streaming straight from the sun. This graphic, published by USA Today, offers an explanation that’s probably similar to one you’ve heard before: The graphic focuses primarily on the solar wind, or the continuous flow of plasma — a high-temperature mix of charged particles — from the sun. But while the solar wind is essential to understanding auroras, there are other factors involved in creating these celestial light displays. By only considering the solar…

By Shayna Keyles Twitter @shaynakeyles Instagram @shaynakeyles Picture a scientist. Who comes to mind? I’ll bet they’re at least a college graduate, an adult with expertise, with plenty of research and experience under their belt. It’s true that professional scientists are people who have accumulated years of specialized expertise in scientific fields, which enables them to focus their research and use advanced tools and data collection methods to achieve goals. But that doesn’t mean science is limited by age or education. In fact, anyone can be a scientist, average citizens…

Dinosaurs’ fossils have attracted paleontologists to the Badlands of Ghost Ranch, NM, since 1881. Here, they have found the best place to find early carnivorous dinosaurs in the world. This video is another in the Shelf Life series from the American Museum of Natural History. After being unearthed, dinosaurs’ bones are very delicate, and paleontologists need to take really good care of them. Once they are safely brought to the Museum of Natural History, they are ready to be analyzed. By looking at dinosaurs’ fossils, researchers can figure out…

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